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(FWD) NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #48, November 29, 2001



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #48, November 29, 2001
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig@nccph.org
National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCCPH)
*****************

1.  Lawsuit Challenges Bush Presidential Records Executive Order
2.  President Signs Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill
3.  Update: $100 Million for History Education
4.  American Association of Museums Issues Business Support Guidelines
5.  News Bits and Bytes: Search Committee Selected; NHPRC Grants Announced;
Clinton Library Construction Controversy; USHistoryMonthly


1.  LAWSUIT CHALLENGES BUSH PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS EXECUTIVE ORDER
On November 28, Public Citizen (a Washington D.C. based nonprofit consumer
advocacy organization) filed suit in a federal court in Washington, D.C. on
behalf of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American
Historians, the National Security Archive, the Reporters Committee for
Freedom of the Press, Public Citizen, and eminent presidential historians
Hugh Graham and Stanley Kutler, to overturn an executive order issued by
President Bush (E.O. 13233) that limits access to the records of former
presidents. The plaintiffs contend that the executive order violates the
Presidential Records Act (PRA), which opens most presidential records to
public access 12 years after a president leaves office. Filing the suit
follows on the heels of a strategy meeting organized by the NCC on November 9
in which interested parties decided that legal action was necessary.

Passed in 1978 in the wake of controversy over the control of documents and
tape recordings of former President Richard Nixon, the PRA provides that
records of presidents and vice-presidents are public property, and the
National Archives must make them available to the public as quickly as
practical after a president leaves office.  Former presidents and
vice-presidents can restrict access to some categories of records, including
confidential communications with their advisers, for up to 12 years, but
after the 12-year period is over, the act requires that such materials be
made public. The act provides certain  exceptions for classified materials
that could damage national security.

The suit seeks to compel the National Archives to abide by the terms of the
1978 PRA and to release to the public some 68,000 pages of records of former
President Ronald Reagan, that should have been released last January, 12
years after President Reagan left office. A copy of the complaint may be
viewed at http://www.citizen.org.

The plaintiffs contend that the Bush executive order jeopardizes access to
those records, and those of other former presidents, by allowing a former
president to assert a claim of "executive privilege," at any time thereby
preventing the Archives from opening records to the public even if the claim
of privilege is legally invalid.

Under the order, both a former president and incumbent president have an
unlimited amount of time to review any documents the Archives proposes to
release after the 12-year restriction period expires.  If the former
president objects to the release of any materials, the order provides that
the incumbent president will concur with the former president's wishes unless
there are "compelling circumstances" that favor disclosure.  But even if the
sitting president finds that there are "compelling circumstances" and
disagrees with the former president, the order requires that the Archives
abide by the direction of the former president and keep the documents secret.

In effect, the executive order makes the release of records dependent on the
good graces of the former president whereas the central point of the
Presidential Records Act was to take control of access out of the hands of
the former presidents. "Bush's executive order violates not only the spirit
but the letter of the law," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "We
will not stand by while the administration tramples on the people's right to
find out about their own government. The president should not have the
ability to arbitrarily withhold public information to hide wrongdoing or
avoid embarrassment."

The recently issued executive order also raises barriers to vice-presidential
records - including the vice-presidential records of President Bush's father
by providing for the first time that a vice-president may claim a vice
presidential "executive privilege," which the Archives is also required by
the Bush executive order to honor.  According to Public Citizen attorney
Scott Nelson, "This concept lacks any foundation in American constitutional
law."

2.  PRESIDENT SIGNS LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS BILL
On November 12, 2001 President Bush signed the Congressional Operations
Appropriations Act, 2002 (P.L. 107-68) a measure that provides funding for
the legislative branch of government.  Included in the annual funding package
are monies for the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress
(LC), and the Copyright Office.

The Congressional Research Service budget is pegged at $81.5 million (an
increase of $8 million over FY 2001); the Copyright Office is slotted to
receive $40.9 million (an increase of $3.9 million). Congress approved a net
appropriation to the LC of $452 million for FY 2002.  This figure exceeds the
President's proposed budget ($444.3 million) by 1.7%.  Nevertheless, the
appropriation is 11.7% less than FY 2001, which included funding for several
projects for which expenditures were authorized for limited period of time.

The LC appropriation provides monies for a number of special projects
including $249,776 for the Veterans History Project administered by the
American Folklife Center, $250,000 in new monies for the advisory National
Recording Preservation Board (authorized during the 106th Congress to support
the preservation of sound recordings), $5 million for additional
discretionary purchase of rare and valuable materials for the LC collections
(thus bringing the Library's total acquisitions budget to $15.8 million), and
a $500,000 pass-through for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The
National Digital Library Program received an increase of $9.6 million which
will allow the program to hire  46 new employees. Congress also appropriated
$7.1 million for the "Hands Across America" program, which is designed to
teach educators how to incorporate the LC's digital collections into school
curricula.

3.  UPDATE: $100 MILLION FOR HISTORY EDUCATION
After taking its traditional Thanksgiving break, Congress returned to address
a number of measures before wrapping up for the year and heading home for
Christmas.  So far, legislators have passed only five of the 13 annual
spending bills needed to keep the government up and running.  Fortunately,
funding for most of the agencies of interest to the historical and archival
communities have already been signed into law (Interior, Treasury,
Legislative Branch).  Nevertheless, the funding package for the Department of
Education, which is part of the larger FY 2002 Labor, Health and Human
Services and Education appropriations bill (H.R. 3061/S. 1536), has yet to be
enacted.  In the Senate version of this measure there is a $100 million
earmark for the second year of the "Teaching American History" initiative
spearheaded by Senate Appropriation Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV).

The House passed its version of the Labor, H&HS and Education bill on October
11 and the Senate passed its version November 6, but conferees have yet to
iron out all the differences between their respective measures.  Hill
insiders report that the $100 million for continuing and expanding the
"Teaching American History" program appears safe and is expected to be funded
when the conferees meet to wrap up their negotiations later this month.

Meanwhile, House and Senate conferees continue to be bogged down on a measure
that up until September 11 was President Bush's top legislative priority -
the "No Child Left Behind" Department of Education authorization bill (S.
1/H.R. 1).  This measure is of interest to the historical community because
it provides a multi-year authorization for the "Teaching American History"
initiative. While the history authorization is non-controversial, contentious
social issues including Boy Scouts' access to public schools, school prayer,
performance-based school contingency funding, and certain special education
provisions continue to hinder congressional representatives from reaching a
bipartisan agreement.

4.  AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS ISSUES BUSINESS SUPPORT  GUIDELINES
The country's largest museum organization issued guidelines urging members to
disclose all agreements between institutions and its private and corporate
donors. "Guidelines for Museums on Developing and Managing Business Support"
by the American Association of Museums (AAM) comes on the heels of a number
of controversial donations to the Smithsonian Institution.  At the
Smithsonian, as well as at museums across the country, concern has recently
been voiced over the degree of control individuals who donate large sums of
money to a museum seem to have over exhibitions.

While the AAM guideline gives broad latitude with respect to handling
sensitive issues including the development of criteria for the use of names
and logos and the creation of conflicts of interest policy statements, the
organization issued a strict guideline on exhibition content and control:
"The museum community recognizes and encourages appropriate collaborations
with a variety of stakeholders including a museum's national, regional, and
local funders.  A museum's careful examination and control of content and
integrity of programs, exhibitions, and activities is essential to its public
trust responsibility."

Regarding disclosure of donor agreements, the guideline states: "A museum
should take reasonable steps to make its action transparent and
understandable to the public, especially where lack of transparency may
reasonably lead to an appearance of a conflict of interest."  According to
AAM President Edward H. Able Jr., "It is terribly important that we maintain
the public trust by being absolutely transparent.  There are times the
transparency might be compromised by the wishes of a donor, but if that
presents a real conflict, the agreement should be reconsidered."

The new voluntary guidelines may be accessed on the AAM webpage:
http://www.aam-us.org/business_support.htm

5.   NEWS BITS AND BYTES
Item #1 - Search Committee Selected: The Smithsonian Institution has
announced the creation of nine-member search committee to assist in the
selection of a new director for the National Museum of American History. The
person selected will succeed Spencer Crew who left the Institution earlier in
the month and now heads Cincinnati's National Underground Railroad Freedom
Center.  The search committee include four members of the museum's board:
Ivan Selin, CEO of Phoenix International and chair of the museum's board;
Pete Claussen, chairman and CEO of Gulf & Ohio Railways; Irene Hirano,
executive director and president of the Japanese American National Museum in
Los Angeles; and David Fields, vice president and general counsel of  The
Irvine Company, headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif. They will be joined by
Neil Harris, professor of history at the University of Chicago. Also included
in the search committee are  National Museum of American History staff
members: Steven Lubar, curator and chair of the History of Technology
department at the museum and Rayna Green, director of the museum's American
Indian Program and acting chair of the Division of Cultural History. The
other Smithsonian members are Richard Kurin, director of the Smithsonian's
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and Sheila Burke, Under  Secretary
for American Museums and National Programs, who will chair the committee. In
addition to creating the committee, an executive search firm is expected to
be named shortly to assist the committee in conducting a nationwide search.

Item #2 - NHPRC Grants Announced: During its November 13-14 meeting, the
National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) recommended
that the Archivist of the United States make grants totaling $3,359,140 for
38 projects. The Commission recommended eight grants for Founding-Era
documentary editing projects totaling $1,330,636; two Founding-Era subvention
grants totaling $20,000; nine State Board administrative support grants
totaling $129,111; four State Board planning, implementation, and re-grant
proposals and collaborative projects totaling $324,639; six grants for
electronic records and technologies projects totaling $1,366,415; five
non-Founding-Era subvention grants totaling $40,167; and four grants for
education projects totaling $148,172. The complete list of funded projects is
expected to be posted in the near future on the NHPRC website:
http://www.nara.gov/nhprc/.

Item #3 - Clinton Library Construction Controversy: The Washington Post
reports (November 23, 2001) that over the objections of historical
preservation groups, a century-old freight station was razed to make way for
the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. Preservationists
had argued that federal officials had violated the law by not considering the
project's cumulative effects on nearby historic properties.  However, a
federal judge disagreed and allowed demolition to proceed. Groundbreaking for
the 28-acre complex, which will include construction of the archive for the
Clinton presidential papers, is scheduled for December 5. The project is
slated for completion in 2004.

Item #4 - USHistoryMonthly:  Readers may find a new publication
USHistoryMonthly of interest. Already, it is the largest American history
newspaper in the United States, with over 100,000 copies being circulated
through colleges, universities, high schools, museums, national landmarks,
bookstores, and through individual subscription (12 issues run $12 per year).
 The purpose of the paper is to keep its readers posted on recent historical
findings, the latest news, and entertaining stories from the past.  According
to the magazines founder/publisher, Brad Kaplus, "USHistoryMonthly is not a
partisan publication. We are not a left wing or right wing newspaper; we
simply present to our readers the finest in American history entertainment."
Each issue features various writers who address diverse historical topics
touching upon American music history, US technology history as well as
American political, art, entertainment, sports and travel history.  There are
also several monthly columns including ones on "Collecting US History", and
"Would You Know How To Run For Office?"  Readers will also find a "books
preview" page. For subscription information, call (201) 263-1300 or tap into
the paper's webpage at: http://www.ushistorymonthly.com.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * *
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